Contrary to the claims in some quarters that the introduction of a national carrier would make domestic airlines operating in Nigeria to wax stronger and experience profitability, a domestic airline operator in the country and Managing Director of Medview Airways, Alhaji Muneer Bankole has said this is far from the truth if the two airlines are not allowed to operate on the same environment.
Responding to question on whether the coming of the new national would promote unfair competition between the national carrier and domestic airlines, the Chief Executive Officer of Medview Airlines said he entertained no fear about competition in the industry as long as it is played on same level ground.
According to him: “There is definitely no threat, once you knew the onus, they operate normally like an airline, the only thing is that they should not take off with the government and people’s funds, it should be privately driven”.
Responding further to journalists’ questions on issues related to airline business in the country, at the Sheraton Hotels and Suites, Ikeja, Lagos venue of the 22nd annual Seminar and Awards, organised by the League of Airport And Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) during the week, Bankole who lamented on the huge charges and levies imposed on domestic airline operation in the country, claimed it takes the grace of God for the existing domestic airline operators to remain in business.
“You know very well that the environment is not conducive, so many political issues, security threats, financial issues. So for now for those of us who are still in the business, I will say, we give thanks to God helping us in sustaining this momentum. It has never been easy, are you talking about the charges? We kept saying it many years back. Are you talking about the taxes, the weather, we just have to thank God that we have kept the business going.
He however challenged the Federal Government to bring its cards on the table for the general public to see and know what it is doing about establishing a new national carrier after the first one got defunct in 2003.
According to him: “I want to give them the opportunity to come out and be able to tell everybody the template, it is still being talk about in Farnborough when it comes to this country we have to sit down and ask questions”.
Asked if the newly unveiled national carrier would cause existing domestic airlines in the country to come together stronger, Bankole claimed that the present business environment in the aviation industry in Nigeria has resulted in the untimely demise of many domestic airlines even as the existing ones are surviving.
“It is not possible because right now you know how many domestic airlines are surviving. We are only five or six carriers operating now. I met 26 when I joined this business,” he said..
On the new aircraft just acquired by his airline, Bankole said it was a dream fulfilled on how to boost the airline’s operation with lesser dependence on leased aircraft.
“It has been one of our dreams, for you to survive in this business you must acquire assets. Assets in three layers: assets in terms of equipment, asset in terms of building and asset in terms of cash outlay. If you don’t survive in any of those areas you might not be able to survive. So today Medview is growing, we own four airplanes at the first time and we have been leasing on one of our major business which is hajj. You have been seen foreign carriers like Air Atlanta, Euroatlantic over ten years ago and we thank God today; in the beginning of this year I will say we stopped the business of leasing. So today we have acquired a Boeing 777-200 ER,” he explained.
